Customers within the display and furniture industries have recognized the need for versatile, portable, durable furniture units which are easy to assemble and disassemble, which will stack compactly for shipping or storage, and will easily reconfigure to meet changing needs. Such functional units of furniture have application as display stands for art galleries, tables and stools for retail and industry use, and furniture for children, trade shows, restaurants, and homes.
Conceptually functional units of furniture such as tables and stools involve the vertical support of a horizontally planar surface (e.g., the top of a given furniture unit) above another horizontally planar surface (e.g., the floor or an attached base of the given furniture unit). Pre-assembled furniture units are often bulky to warehouse, expensive to ship, and cumbersome to move. Furniture units labeled ready-to-assemble (RTA) or knock-down (KD) often require complicated assembly instructions, a lengthy time to complete the project, and no guarantee that the completed unit will disassemble and reassemble. Moreover, in the above, each furniture unit is likely offered as a set package which combines a predetermined height and width of vertical planar piece(s) with a predetermined length and width of horizontal piece(s). Neither vertical nor horizontal piece(s) can be easily reconfigured to create a different functional unit of furniture.
Using one known technique, the vertical structural members are held together using structural reinforcement members. These structural reinforcement members consist of short wooden dowels. The wooden dowels are inserted horizontally between the vertical structural members at the top and bottom of the vertical structural members to cause self alignment and increased structural integrity. Cams and bolts are used between the vertical structural members and the horizontally top planar surface. If there was a horizontally base planar surface, cams and bolts are also used between the horizontally base planar surface and the vertical structural members. There are problems with using wooden dowels to hold the vertical structural members together since the wooden dowels tend to swell in humid weather making assembly and disassembly difficult.
Another known technique uses short steel pins as structural reinforcement members instead of wooden dowels. Problems also occur with this technique since the short steel pins are not long enough to penetrate the interior of the vertical structural members sufficiently. With rough handling, the vertical structural members could be torqued out of alignment. This effects structural stability. Thus, despite a large effort expended by designers and manufacturers of furniture, many drawbacks still exist.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to interconnect a vertical support member to vertical panel members in a manner which provides good structural integrity and strength, pleasing aesthetic appearance, and economy of production.
Another object is to provide a functional unit of furniture that is sturdy yet can be quickly disassembled into stackable, flat panels for efficient shipment or storage.
Still another object is to provide a functional unit of furniture that is easy to assemble and disassemble.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an interconnection of all horizontal surfaces and vertical members to withstand stress reasonably anticipated in assembly, disassembly, reassembly, and utilization of the assembled functional unit of furniture.
A further object of the present invention is to provide multiple functional furniture configurations easily created from varying shapes and dimensions of horizontal and vertical planar members designed to interchange with one another. The interchangeable factor allows for reconfiguration of any and all unit members at any time to create a different functional furniture configuration suited to changing needs.
These and still further objects will become apparent hereinafter.